Kepa Arrizabalaga has spoken out about the struggles he has faced at Stamford Bridge since the arrival of fellow goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Arrizabalaga joined Chelsea from La Liga side Athletic Bilbao back in 2018 for a £71.6m – a then world-record fee for a goalkeeper.
The Spain international played 36 and 33 Premier League matches for Chelsea in his first two campaigns respectively, but after the arrival of Mendy last summer, has since had his game time limited to just eight top flight games.
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Mendy has cemented his place as Thomas Tuchel’s No.1 keeper after several impressive displays at the start of this season to help Chelsea climb to the top of the Premier League table after 11 matches, having only conceded just four goals.
And Kepa has opened up about his lack of playing time, before sending a message to the other fringe players at Chelsea.
‘It’s very important, you have to be ready. You have to be ready for yourself, you have to be ready for the team, also because it’s your job to be ready always, no?,’ he said.
‘It’s not easy when you’re not playing, everybody wants to play, but the best way I’m trying to do it is push every day hard. Just push yourself every day in the training and be positive. I know sometimes it is not easy, but you have to be very strong mentally.
‘When I have the opportunity, like in the cups, or like I did in the league against Tottenham, when I come in I do my best to take the opportunity and give everything to make the manager have a hard decision.
‘I think we have high quality here in all the positions. We have a very good squad. Every game, on the bench, there are big players, lots of internationals, but it’s what we need.
‘I think we will have a lot of games, hopefully, during the season. We will have to be ready, everybody, because everybody will have their moment and we need that. We need everybody being pushed hard in training, pushing each other, and I think we are doing that.
‘We have a good atmosphere in the team. Obviously everybody wants to play and everybody wants to play every Saturday, but it’s also important to accept the manager’s decisions, to keep pushing and to be ready to take the opportunity when you have it.’
